Going Postal: A Discworld Novel

Written by Terry Pratchett

Narrated by Stephen Briggs

Moist von Lipwig is a con artist and a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork's ailing postal service back on its feet.

It was a tough decision.

But he's got to see that the mail gets though, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers Friendly and Benevolent Society, the evil chairman of the Grand Trunk Semaphore Company, and a midnight killer.

Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too.

Maybe it'll take a criminal to succeed where honest men have failed, or maybe it's a death sentence either way.

Or perhaps there's a shot at redemption in the mad world of the mail, waiting for a man who's prepared to push the envelope...

A Random House UK audio production.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House UK Audio
• Release date: Jan 4, 2007
• ISBN: 9781407032474

Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) was the acclaimed creator of the globally revered Discworld series. In all, he authored more than fifty bestselling books, which have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.

Reviews for Going Postal

[quondame · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Moist von Lipwig is given the chance of a life time to get the Ankh-Morpork post office functioning again. Since saving his life requires saving the post office we get to see a con man reinvent himself and the institution in which he has been embedded, all with that delightful Discworld slant.

[narilka · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What kind of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.Moist von Lipwig's life of crime has finally caught up with him. With his neck in the noose, Moist watches the hangman pull the lever and wakes up... not dead and offered a job? Lord Vetinari offers Moist the chance at redemption by being named Postmaster and getting the old Postal Service back up and running again. The mail must be delivered.Going Postal is the 33rd book in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. This is the first book to feature Moist von Lipwig and the fourth in the Industrial Revolution sub-series. It's interesting that for a 33rd book in the series you can almost use it as an entry point without missing out on much more than a couple character cameos. For a character that should have been despicable, I found Moist to be quite likable and sympathetic. Pratchett does a great job of letting us see that Moist has a underlying decency when dealing with most people at an individual level even though technically he's a con man. Moist also has some of the most wonderful conversations with Vetinari, which highlights just how brilliant a character Vetinari is. I'm glad he's given more page time in this installment. The supporting cast we're introduced to is enjoyable and quirky and human, even the golem Mr. Pump.As with most Discworld novels my favorite part is how Pratchett deftly works in deeper themes into his books while still keeping them funny. This time he plays with the idea of Hope and its opposite, fear, corporate greed, collecting mania, doing the impossible, pokes fun at professional wrestling in the most highly organized bar brawl ever and more. Pratchett was a genius. His creativity is sorely missed.

[electrascaife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A confidence trickster (Moist von Lipwig) runs out of luck and is faced with the hangman's noose when the Patrician makes him an offer he can't refuse - the job of Postmaster to a post office system in complete disarray. He finds stacks of letters, mountains of letters, that were never delivered, and they're not happy about it (the letters, that is). There's also the clacks system, run by corrupt businessmen who are essentially killing their workers with their slipshod approach to running and maintaining the towers. Moist's job is to get the post office up and running again, and he decides to take on the big corporate bullies, too, and beat them at their own game.A solid entry in the Discworld series; I love the new character of Moist (I'm a sucker for the rascally, too-clever-for-his-own-good types) and I hope he shows up again soon.

[pwaites_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Going Postal is the thirty-third Discworld novel and a fairly good one to start with as it follows a new character. There’s some references to other characters, but new readers should have no trouble keeping up.Moist von Lipwig is a conman and a thief, and he’s about to die. But when the noose goes around his neck, he wakes up again… in a government job. Lord Vetinari has tasked him with reviving the defunct postal service as an alternative to the increasingly corrupt and broken clacks. With no way to run, Moist must turn all his skills towards the task, because the Grand Clacks company is not a fan of the competition…Going Postal is a novel about that greatest treasure of all, hope.“Moist recognized that hope. It was how he’d made his living. You knew. that the man running the Find the Lady game was going to win, you knew that people in distress didn’t sell diamond rings for a fraction of their value, you knew that life generally handed you the sticky end of the stick…Except that, this time, you might be wrong, right? It might just happen, yes?”It’s also a novel about freedom, including the freedom to take the consequences. It’s a novel about life, including all the spiky pineapple bits. But you never know, under those spikes there might just be peaches. There probably won’t be. But there could be.I have a certain soft spot for heist stories. I love reading about thieves and con artists as protagonist, and Moist was perfect for me. He lives for the thrill of the heist and isn’t quite sure how to be himself and not a persona. He steals for excitement and everything’s just a game to him. Part of Going Postal is him learning that his actions have hurt people.“I wonder if it’s like this for mountain climbers, he thought. You climb bigger and bigger mountains and you know that one day one of them is going to be just that bit too steep. But you go on doing it, because it’s so-o good when you breathe the air up there. And you know you’ll die falling.”While Moist is obviously at the center of the narrative, Pratchett’s side characters never fail to delight. Vetinari has a rather large appearance, and I love a newly introduced character, Adora Belle Dearheart, who works for the Golem Trust.Going Postal is well plotted and structured. It’s divided into chapters with subheadings, which is a first for the adult novels of the Discworld series (the YA books have chapters). It’s focused almost exclusively on Moist and the post office, and there’s no tangential side plots that clutter up some of the earlier novels.“Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?”Pratchett is an incredible writer and Going Postal shines with his phrasing and word play. And as always, the story is embedded with warmth and humanity.I would recommend Going Postal to everyone, particularly people looking for an introduction to the Discworld series.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.

[griffin22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Moist von Lipvig was a conman, and for his sins he’s being forced by Lord Vetinari to reopen the derelict Post Office in opposition to the Clacks. Great new characters and the usual high jinks and derring-do in Ankh-Morpork. Golems, the Night Watch and The Times in supporting roles.

[jonsweitzerlamme · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If I could give this six stars, I would. Ties together many of the strands of previous books, introduces a classic new character, has a fascinating, original plot, and just a dash of magic where it's needed. My personal favorite Pratchett. 

[chellebearss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was excellent! Interesting, creative and funny too! I would like to give some more Discworld novels a shot. Although there are over 40 of them so it could take a while!

[myab-3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a weird book, a friend gave it to me and I didn't know what to expect. I chuckled a few times and in the end it wasn't too bad.

[melydia_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Moist von Lipwig, fresh off the scaffolds, is offered a job in lieu of a death sentence for his many swindles: become postmaster. This is no small task: unsent letters have been piling up in the post office for decades, and everyone stopped mailing letters when the "clacks" - a sort of visual telegraph - came to be. With the help of a memorable cast of characters, Moist takes it upon himself to save the post office and return it to its former glory, even if he has to return to his old con-artist ways to do it. The whole thing is very fun and very funny, and you don't even have to be familiar with Discworld to enjoy it. (I read the first Discworld book over a decade ago so I was basically coming into it cold.) Definitely recommended.

[encephalical · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hilarious and lots of fun. The only Discworld novel I've read and I didn't feel lost, though I'm sure I missed references here and there.

[thewallflower-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The city government grants a con artist a second lease on life if he can get the post office up and running. The mail system's fallen into disrepair since the clacks (a telegraph/semaphore system) went up. But the evil business that owns them has been embezzling and employee safety has paid the price. So it's David vs. Goliath as the thief has to figure out not only how to eschew his criminal background, but also how to deliver floors full of letters as he avoids the shadowy businessmen.This is an adventure story. It's not dissimilar to any other Pratchett - if you've read one of them, you've know what to expect. And this won't convince you otherwise. I picked it up because it's the highest rated/ranked Discworld novel in the series, and thought I should read this if not any others.I consider Pratchett to the be the fantasy equivalent of Douglas Adams. That means events take a backseat to world-building and situation-explaining. Plot pacing is sacrificed for humor. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Written humor is hard because you lose all elements of timing. So if you can get a chuckle out of anyone, you've accomplished a great deal. And this got several chuckles from me.The key negative is the unlikable characters. The con man doesn't really want to be there. The government is forcing him in this job on threat of death. His chief ally at the post office is an old man who'd rather see tradition served than do any work. Plus a young man who might be autistic (he collects pins and goes into fits when routine is broken). No one is particularly charming, but Iron Man seems to get away with it. The other problem is too many subplots, due to the too many characters, which is par for the course in Discworld.It's a book of contradictions, but a solid four stars.

[jbarringer-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

While Good Omens is still my favorite Terry Pratchett book, this one has a lot of the same charm and flavor as Good Omens. In Going Postal, a career criminal gets a second chance after he is rescued from the gallows just after his death. He is sent to work as postmaster for the post office, where he must find a way to revive the struggling postal system. He is given a winged hat, a golden suit, and the assistance of a golem and two postal workers who have been going through the motions of tending an increasingly impossible mountain of mail for many years.

[aldrea_alien · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was plagued by an urge to watch Going Postal all throughout reading this book. Perhaps it's because I've done so before many times. The part where the good guys are victorious is different, for sure, but no less fanciful and still in line with Moist's character and I sort of prefer it to the slightly less dramatic version in the book. (I know, I know. The horror!)However, everything leading up to it is far better. So many things went down, so many twists in the plot that, even though I knew the ending, I wondered how they were going to get there. Got to love the characters, especially Miss Dearheart and, yes, even the book version of Moist von Lipwig grew on me. But the golems are really the ones who steal my heart, especially Mr Pump and Anghammarad (you've got to love the deication of 19000-year-old man of clay).

[christina_e_mitchell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love a good smart-ass, and Moist Von Lipvwig is the genuine article. Goddess bless Terry Practchett. You know with an opening sentence like "They say that the prospect of being hanged in the morning concentrates a man's mind wonderfully; unfortunately, what the mind inevitably concentrates on is that, in the morning, it will be in a body that is going to be hanged" the reader is in for one hell of a ride. This is a sinful indulgence of a read...and considering the troubles of the USPS these days, a very prescient read.

[nx74defiant · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Who is the perfect person to run the post office? Why a con man of course!Very funny book. I love how he sets up the post office thinking of it as a con game.

[sometimeunderwater · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Along with Thud!, one of the better late-Pratchett books. A hundred times better than its sequel, Making Money, but still not quite at the level of the golden age of Discworld (roughly Reaper Man to Jingo, imo).

[pmlyayakkers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Moist Lipwig is a conman. After being caught, he is assigned a golem parole officer, and put in charge of the derelict, completely non-functioning Ankh Morpork post office. Using his considerable people skills, he reanimates the post office and attempts to make a variety of wrongs right.

[brannonsg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

After reading The BFG and being told that Terry Pratchett was a similar writer, I was really looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, for me, it just didn't hold my interest. The first 12 (of 14) chapters just dragged on and on and on. Yes, he developed the characters and expanded upon the story/setting, but for way too long.

[reader1009-863136 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

fiction - standalone story in the Discworld seriesenjoyable adventure in which a former criminal is forced to take over a long-neglected, somewhat magical post office and finds that he enjoys turning it into a success. Plus: pinheads turn into stamp collectors, several kisses with an ashtray, and beating the real villains at their own game.

[ragwaine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finished this a couple days ago. Pratchett is great because his stuff is so silly and fun, but then sometimes really deep and meaningful. I've only read 3 of the other Discworld books so I've got some catching up to do. I wouldn't want to read them all the time, but definitely need to fit one or two a year in.

[john5918 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very amusing and very clever, as with most Discworld books. The lead character (a conman who is reprieved from a death sentence if he agrees to take over and reactivate the moribund post office) is very engaging. Other interesting and somehow charming characters include Lord Vetinari and the golems, although I'm always sorry to find a book that doesn't have the luggage in it.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Can Moist von Lipwig revitalize the Post Office in these days of the fast communication of the clacks? I found lots of satirical social commentary in this entry in the Discworld series that feels relevant to today's society (perhaps even more so than when it was written!).

[chris4graham_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An extremely clever storyline

[corazie · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favourite Discworld novels - although I'm sure I've said that more thank once.

The way terry Pratchett plays with worlds is great - it adds to the pace and humour of this hilarious novel.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Actually *not* a good place to start if you're unfamiliar with Discworld. Yes, it was the first I read, and it did get me hooked. But I did not understand it at all back then. Now I've read all the books previous to this and am all caught up to here, and I appreciated it so much more. Definitely a fantasy, though, told in Pratchett's elliptical style that repeats some thoughts (it's easier to swindle dishonest people) ad-nauseum, and leaves others undeveloped (Dimwell Arrhythmic Rhyming Slang).

First read in, probably, 2005. Second time, October 2012.

[jnmwheels · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

SO much truth wrapped within SO much sarcasm! "Peel away the lies and the truth would emerge." Tihs one is worth a second read.

[susiesharp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one was really funny, and Stephen Briggs' narration made it all the more so, he is a fantastic narrator.RIP Sir Terry and thank-you for leaving behind such wonderful works!

[polarbear123_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the better ones as Pratchett is more concerned with a decent well paced plot rather than philosophising and over blown and long winded jokes. Good stuff. Although I realise my review doesn't sound that complimentary now. Oh well.

[francescaforrest · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Adored this. Funny and moving and pointful--great satire and social commentary, but the story's much, much more than that. Moist von Lipwig, what a character!

[quibee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Typical Terry Pratchett with larger than life characters, marvellous turns of phrase and plays on words and a very well contstructed fantasy world.

Much against his will, a con man is forced into bringing the Postal system back from the dead.